The Disney Comics Blog @ DCW http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog Blogging about Disney comics around the world Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:08:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.1 en hourly 1 BOOM! Studios to launch first Disney hardcovers at Comic-Con ‘09 http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/07/boom-studios-to-launch-first-disney-hardcovers-at-comic-con-09/ http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/07/boom-studios-to-launch-first-disney-hardcovers-at-comic-con-09/#comments Thu, 16 Jul 2009 23:15:06 +0000 Arthur http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/?p=817 BOOM! Studios has lots of paperback and hardcover Disney books coming out starting later this year, including ones with classic Carl Barks stories and a reprinting of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa is slated for February. The publisher revealed yesterday that it will release its first Disney hardcovers at Comic-Con ‘09 in San Diego next week. Hardcover collections of The Incredibles: Family Matters, Cars: The Rookie and The Muppet Show will be available at a limited numbered set of 250 and writers Mark Waid, Alan Porter and Roger Langridge will be doing signings of these exclusive editions (see schedule).

Cars and The Incredibles hardcover books by BOOM! Studios

I recently got a couple of BOOM’s hardcover books and I must say that I am very impressed by their quality. The books measure 7×10.5 inches and have a nice thick matte sleeve around a black leather-like hard cover which itself has the title and logo embossed in gold on the front and spine. The Farscape book (see pictures below) has 136 thick glossy pages with beautiful sharp printing. There’s even a cloth bookmark!

I can’t wait to get my hands on the hardcover books with classic stories by Barks, Rosa, Gottfredson and the like. I just wish that a Barks and Rosa library were in the works. It’s going to be great to have stories by my favorite artists in gorgeous books like this, but I’d rather spend my money on a complete chronological series of all the work by these great artists, like a colored (and uncensored) Carl Barks Library. Let’s hope these initial books do well enough for BOOM! to take on such a large project.

Here are some pictures of the Farscape book so you can see for yourself what the future Disney hardcovers will look like:

Farscape hardcover book by BOOM! Studios

Farscape hardcover book by BOOM! Studios

Farscape hardcover book by BOOM! Studios

Farscape hardcover book by BOOM! Studios

 

]]> http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/07/boom-studios-to-launch-first-disney-hardcovers-at-comic-con-09/feed/ 0 International Disney comics subscriptions on Amazon.com http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/07/international-disney-comics-subscriptions-on-amazon-com/ http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/07/international-disney-comics-subscriptions-on-amazon-com/#comments Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:29:36 +0000 Arthur http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/?p=801 Did you know that in the United States you can subscribe to several European weekly and monthly Disney comics through Amazon.com? You can get Micky Maus from Germany, Kalle Anka from Sweden or Picsou Magazine from France. Here’s an overview of the Disney periodicals that I found. These titles can be shipped only within the U.S. and the prices listed here include shipping costs.

Micky Maus (Germany)
Kalle Anka (Sweden)
Picsou Magazine (France)

]]> http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/07/international-disney-comics-subscriptions-on-amazon-com/feed/ 0 Exclusive Carl Barks exhibit at Geppi’s Entertainment Museum http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/07/exclusive-carl-barks-exhibit-at-geppis-entertainment-museum/ http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/07/exclusive-carl-barks-exhibit-at-geppis-entertainment-museum/#comments Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:13:35 +0000 Arthur http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/?p=780 If you’re going to be in the Baltimore area between July 17th and September 8th, you may want to stop by at Geppi’s Entertainment Museum to see a unique exhibit featuring the largest collection of original Carl Barks artwork ever assembled! A significant percentage of the artist’s 125 oil paintings will be on display, along with preliminaries, studies, statues and comic book pages. The Carl Barks Retrospective will also host a sale of Barks originals, lithographs, statues and other items by Diamond International Galleries during this period.

Check out this great 12-minute documentary about Carl Barks which I found on the Geppi Entertainment Museum website. It’s a very nice video in two parts about Barks’ career. The video ends with Barks’ 95th birthday held at a gallery of his oil paintings.

Source: geppismuseum.com

]]> http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/07/exclusive-carl-barks-exhibit-at-geppis-entertainment-museum/feed/ 1 New statues of Barks characters by Dark Horse – Scrooge already sold out http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/07/new-statues-of-barks-characters-by-dark-horse-scrooge-already-sold-out/ http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/07/new-statues-of-barks-characters-by-dark-horse-scrooge-already-sold-out/#comments Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:13:56 +0000 Arthur http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/?p=765 Dark Horse is releasing some gorgeous Disney statuettes in the Syroco-style based on the artwork by Carl Barks. The statues will be released in a special litho-printed full-color tin with a vintage pin-back button and booklet and are limited to 950 numbered pieces. The statues can be pre-ordered at TFAW.com for $49.99 each, although the Scrooge statue has apparently already sold out (source: here and here).

There will be six statues in total: Uncle Scrooge (release date: September 16th), Donald Duck (September 9th), Gyro Gearloose and Helper (October 21st), Magica de Spell (October 7th), Gladstone Gander and one of the Beagle Boys. All except Donald are characters created by Carl Barks.

Dark Horse Scrooge Statue

“Modeled after products that were popular in the 1930s and 1940s, these statuettes have been designed and manufactured to be consistent with earlier Syroco-style figures. These latest pieces, sculpted by Yoe! Studio, join the ever-growing collection of the world’s most famous characters from comic strips, books and, cartoons presented by Dark Horse in this unique style.”

Dark Horse Donald Duck

Dark Horse Gyro Gearloose with Little Helper

Dark Horse Magic De Spell

]]> http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/07/new-statues-of-barks-characters-by-dark-horse-scrooge-already-sold-out/feed/ 3 Disney twenty-three magazine http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/07/disney-twenty-three-magazine/ http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/07/disney-twenty-three-magazine/#comments Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:08:45 +0000 Arthur http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/?p=750 I picked up a copy of Disney twenty-three today at Barnes and Noble (where I was pleased to also find all of Boom’s Pixar comics). I thought that the magazine was exclusive to members of the D23 community, but apparently they also sell it to regular people. It’s a huge magazine (11 by 12 inches) with 60 beautiful glossy pages full of large photos and interesting articles about everything Disney in the style of Disney Magazine (†2005).

Issue 2 of Disney twenty-three magazine

The cover story of the new magazine’s second issue is about Donald Duck’s 75th anniversary. There’s a 10-page article covering his origins and cartoon career. Unfortunately, there’s hardly any mention of Donald Duck in the comic books. The article basically skips all this and jumps right from the 1940s cartoons to his appearance in Fantasia 2000, the video game Kingdom Hearts and the Mickey’s PhilharMagic attraction at Walt Disney World.

Carl Barks is mentioned briefly as “the artist who helped create many of Donald’s best cartoons and went on to make the Duck an international star of the printed page with his masterful comic book stories.”

The back inside-cover of the magazine does feature three vintage newspaper comics with Donald, Mickey and Bucky Bug.

More attention to the comic books is given on the website of D23 in this article about Huey, Duey and Louie, which was apparently written by comics writer and editor David Gerstein.

]]> http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/07/disney-twenty-three-magazine/feed/ 2 Amazon lists future Boom! comics, including Barks, Gottfredson and Rosa’s Life of Scrooge! http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/07/amazon-lists-future-boom-comics-including-barks-gottfredson-and-rosas-life-of-scrooge/ http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/07/amazon-lists-future-boom-comics-including-barks-gottfredson-and-rosas-life-of-scrooge/#comments Sat, 04 Jul 2009 17:05:06 +0000 Arthur http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/?p=711 Searching for Boom! Studios on Amazon reveals a long list (see below) of upcoming trade paperbacks and hardcover books (Please note that these releases are not set in stone; in the past Gemstone titles listed on Amazon were later changed or never came out!). Some of the titles listed feature classic reprints of stories by Carl Barks, Floyd Gottfredson and Don Rosa. The first book, a hardcover Christmas album, is scheduled to come out in November and the other books in the first half of 2010.

A lot of fans will be pleased to see another reprint of Don Rosa’s The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, which has been out of print for a while and is still in high demand, but Boom’s version will be more expensive than the previous release. It will take at least three of their 112-page volumes to cover the more than 300 pages in the Life of Scrooge series, which will set you back $75. When Gemstone released these stories in 2005 and 2006 they came in two paperbacks (of 268 and 208 pages respectively) for ‘only’ $16.99 each. At least Boom’s books will be in hardcover.

Here are the books with classic reprints as currently listed on Amazon:

And other books with Pixar material and Italian stories:

So far we’ve learned that Boom is covering: 1. classic reprints of stories that have already appeared (multiple times) in the United States, 2. new Pixar stories created by Boom themselves and 3. multi-part Italian stories like Ultraheroes and Wizards of Mickey.

What I’m still missing is the new European material from Denmark and the Netherlands that is appearing in the European weeklies. I’m talking about stories by artists like Ferioli, Xavier, Marco Rota, Daniel Branca or William van Horn. Those were the stories that I was almost most looking forward to in Gemstone’s years. I sure hope that Boom will find a place for these. As a collector I already have multiple reprints of the Barks and Rosa stories that Boom will release in their hardcover books. It’s the new material in the classic Barks style that I am personally most interested in.

]]> http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/07/amazon-lists-future-boom-comics-including-barks-gottfredson-and-rosas-life-of-scrooge/feed/ 12 Boom! Studios to distribute new Disney comics to newsstands and book stores http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/06/boom-studios-to-distribute-new-disney-comics-to-newsstands-and-book-stores/ http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/06/boom-studios-to-distribute-new-disney-comics-to-newsstands-and-book-stores/#comments Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:30:44 +0000 Arthur http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/?p=678 Boom! Studios will be distributing its new Disney comics through newsstands and mass market bookstores in the United States. Back in March, Boom announced a deal with Kable Distribution Services for newsstand distribution of their monthly Disney/Pixar comics The Incredibles and Cars. It is this same distribution channel that will be used for the new titles that start in September, including Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories (WDC&S) and Mickey Mouse and Friends.

Kable has a lot of experience in getting comics to kids with the distribution of their Archie Comics, which is virtually the only comic book available at grocery stores like Wal-Mart. To purchase any other comic book, Americans need to find a specialty comic book store or go online. This is quite different from the situation in many European countries, where Disney comics are sold nearly everywhere and reach huge distribution.

A friend in the comic book industry has informed me that Kable will be handling Boom’s Disney comics, including WDC&S and Mickey Mouse, putting the single $2.99 issues in regular stores across the country. Trade paperbacks will be available in book stores like Barnes & Nobles. Wow, this is great news! If Disney comics are to be displayed at stores like Walmart and Target it will greatly improve the exposure of these comics to the younger readers that Boom! is targeting.

Remember that back in 2002, Steve Geppi, owner of Gemstone Publishing, also announced his plan to bring his Disney comics to stores like Wal-Mart and Target, via Diamond Book Distributors. At that time he seemed pretty confident about being able to do this, but we all know how that ended. I hope that this will not happen again.

So what do we know about the new Boom Disney comics so far? Here is a rundown of the facts:

  • Boom! has obtained the license to publish Disney comics with characters from Pixar’s animated feature films as well as classic characters like Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse
  • The Pixar titles, including The Incredibles and Cars, were launched in March 2009 and from the latest Previews magazine we’ve learned that WDC&S and Mickey Mouse will start in September
  • Each monthly issue will have 24 pages (with 22 pages of comics) and sell for $2.99. This is a lower price-per-issue, but a comparable price-per-page to Gemstone’s publications
  • All of Boom’s new Disney comics will be sold at newsstands, book stores and specialty comic book stores
  • WDC&S and Mickey Mouse will start off with two multi-part Italian series called Ultraheroes and Wizards of Mickey, which are intended to appeal more to the younger audience that Boom is targeting. Both stories run for more than 240 pages so it is likely that this will occupy both titles for nearly a year
  • At a later stage Boom will also be handling the ‘classic’ material that Gemstone published, as Boom’s co-founder Ross Richie commented: “We’re not going to abandon the fans that are buying that material, so we will have programs and products for them.”

Sounds promising, doesn’t it? I’m excited!

]]> http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/06/boom-studios-to-distribute-new-disney-comics-to-newsstands-and-book-stores/feed/ 1 Disney Comics News Roundup http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/06/disney-comics-news-roundup/ http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/06/disney-comics-news-roundup/#comments Sun, 28 Jun 2009 04:22:27 +0000 Arthur http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/?p=659 Here are some Disney comics-related stories and links that I’ve collected this week:
  • On his blog, David Gerstein provides an in-depth account on his experience at Egmont working on the development of Tamers of Nonhuman Threats, a Disney comics series starring Donald Duck and Fethry Duck.
     
  • Egmont Ehapa Verlag in Germany has launched a new version of their official website for Lustiges Taschenbuch, one of Germany’s most popular comic books. The new website features more news, a gallery and insider information about the publication. Lustiges Taschenbuch is a 250-page pocket book featuring 3-tier Danish and Italian Disney comic stories. It sells about 240,000 copies each month.
     
  • Duck Comics Revue is a relatively new blog on which the author reviews and analyzes classic Carl Barks stories.
     
  • Steve Geppi, owner of Gemstone Publishing, the former publisher of Disney comics in the United States, has congratulated Boom! Studios on getting the license for Disney’s standard characters. “While I am of course disappointed that I won’t be the one publishing these great characters anymore, I believe the future for them is still one of untapped potential,” he writes.
     
  • Boom! Studios released three new issues from their Disney line-up this week. June 24th saw the release of Cars: The Rookie #3, The Incredibles: Family Matters #3 and The Muppet Show #4.
     
    3 new issues from Boom Studios

     
  • In the Netherlands, the Dutch Donald Duck weekly is giving away a free DVD with new 6-month subscriptions. The DVD celebrates Donald Duck’s 75th anniversary with ten classic animated shorts.
     
    Donald Duck 75 anniversary DVD

     

That’s all folks. If you have any interesting news on Disney comics from anywhere in the world please don’t hesitate to contact me.

]]> http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/06/disney-comics-news-roundup/feed/ 0 New English Lustiges Taschenbuch for Germany only http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/06/new-english-lustiges-taschenbuch-for-germany-only/ http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/06/new-english-lustiges-taschenbuch-for-germany-only/#comments Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:37:43 +0000 Arthur http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/?p=654 Lustiges Taschenbuch English EditionLast month I wrote about the new English-language version of Lustiges Taschenbuch that Ehapa Verlag in Germany plans to launch on July 1st. I had read reports at the time that the 276-page comic would be available outside Germany, but it seems that this is not the case, at least for now.

I received an email from someone at the communication department at Ehapa who wrote that, for the time being, the English edition of Lustiges Taschenbuch will not be available to order outside Germany. However, I was not the first one to express interest in getting the books and they are actually thinking about alternative ways to distribute the new title through channels such as Amazon.

The main reason for publishing the new English-language Disney comic in Germany is not to enter the international market, but rather to bring local children in contact with the English language at an early age as English becomes ever more important as the world’s lingua franca. Editor-in-chief Peter Höpfner commented that they are publishing the new English edition of Lustiges Taschenbuch because English is becoming more and more important as it gets taught as early as pre-school and elementary school and secondly, because access to learning another language becomes easier in comic books when words and images are combined.

]]> http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/06/new-english-lustiges-taschenbuch-for-germany-only/feed/ 3 Jaime Diaz (1937-2009) http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/06/jaime-diaz-1937-2009/ http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2009/06/jaime-diaz-1937-2009/#comments Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:29:50 +0000 Arthur http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/?p=635 On Saturday, Argentinian animator and cartoonist Jaime Diaz passed away at the age of 72. Diaz founded the Jaim Diaz Studio in 1975, an art and animation studio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, that became a large supplier of Disney comics (S-coded stories) for foreign-market Disney comics from 1975 to 1989 and also for the Disney Comics books in the United States in the early 1990s, for which they produced material for Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, DuckTales and several other series. Over the years the studio created over 1500 Disney comic stories (see index).

Jaime Diaz Studio staff photo from 1984
Jaime Diaz Studio staff photo from 1984

Bob Foster, who worked with Jaime Diaz as managing editor at Disney Comics from 1990 to 1992, commented the following on a post at Cartoon Brew:

“He represents all there is to love about people in the cartoon business. [...] When I worked with him at H-B in the early 70s, I was always amazed at how his stuff just gushed from the tip of his pencil and onto the paper like water. [...] When I was managing editor at Disney Comics, Jaime’s studio in Argentina produced countless pages of great comic art that was always on model and rarely required any tweaking. Jaime always knew what was needed, got it done, and delivered it on time. (Source)

Related links:
  • RIP: Jaime Diaz (The Beat)
  • A Fallen Companion (Mad Animation Profit)
  • Jaime Diaz (1937-2009) (Cartoon Brew)

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